Fished the feather last wednesday for steelhead. We had four guys in two boats, two of us were experienced and the other two newbies. I landed five and lost three others. The biggest was 27 inches. But the best fight came from an 18 incher I got in frog water. The other guy in my boat (newbie) hooked one that looked to be over 30 inches according to our guide. I never saw it, but he lost it due to line control issues. Steelhead fishing is pretty frusrating for the experienced fly angler. It was tramatic for the newbies, they would hook up but they would break-off or give too much slack and the fish was gone. We had agreat day, fished with a new guide out of Redding named Andrew Harris. He knows the water well and works hard. Lots of dead salmon, and lots of garbage. I just can't understand how people can litter like that. Going up next wednesday hope we have good luck again.
Yeah, There are two main areas to fish,above the 162 bridge and below. The best way to get to the most fishable water is to take 162 west from 70 and drive a couple of miles down to Larkin rd and make a left. Larkin parallels the river both the hi and low flow sections. The flow issue results from thermalito bay dumping water back into the river. The recreation area has a number of roads going down to the river, be careful not to get lost it's a maze back there. Vance ave. has fishing access, so does east biggs. There are access maps that Iv'e seen but can't find, it's really trial and error. You can go to the redding flyshop site and check for flys. There are shuttle services there but I don't know who they are. Hope this helps.
